How to find your lost or stolen iPhone or iPad with the “Find My iPhone” application

By Daniel Caceres

Nov 19, 2015

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Has your iPhone or iPad been stolen or lost? We’ll help you to locate your device as quickly and as easily as possible, so that the fright will soon be over. The key to fixing this mess is the official “Find My iPhone” app. This app not only works on iOS devices, but also allows you to find your device from your PC or Mac.

What exactly is “Find My iPhone”?

It’s Apple’s official solution for tracking down your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or even your Mac. Although it’s called “Find My iPhone”, as you can see, it is a bit more versatile than that.

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“Find My iPhone” allows you to:

– Locate your phone or tablet.
– Prevent others from using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch if you have lost it.
– Perform a factory reset on your device, to prevent the information on it from falling into the wrong hands.

Are there any special requirements I need to meet in order to use this app?

This first bit is very important: you must have “Find My iPhone” activated on your lost device. If you don’t have it, we offer alternatives at the end of this article. You can download “Find My iPhone” from Softonic with ease, but note that the app comes preinstalled on newer models.

Carefully examine the iCloud settings: if you want to find your lost iPhone from your PC, you need to log in to your iCloud.com account. From there you may use the app, provided you have installed it on the device beforehand.

How to use “Find My iPhone”?

When selecting your device, the first thing you’ll see is its location on a map, providing it is powered on. If the device is nearby, the app can issue a command to make your iPhone or iPad beep, allowing you or someone else to be able to find it.

Once you have confirmed that your device is lost, activate Lost Mode. This mode blocks the device using a four-digit code, assuming you have set one previously. What if you don’t have a code? In that case, the app will help you to create one there and then.

Additionally, Lost Mode lets you display a message to appear on your iPhone or iPad to notify anyone who has found your device before you have.

Now there’s one more step to take… but only if necessary.

Okay, now that you’ve taken the first measures of preventing others from accessing your mobile phone or tablet, let us take some more serious steps. First of all, report the loss or theft of the device to the police. Law enforcement may ask you for the device’s serial number. You’ll find this on the original box, and on your receipt in My Support Profile (supportprofile.apple.com) if you have registered your iPhone or iPad using your Apple ID.

Finally, erase the data from your device if you really believe that the information is at risk. But be warned: follow all of the above steps in this tutorial before wiping the data, because – once you have deleted all the information – “Find My iPhone” will be disabled. Furthermore, do not take this step if you know for certain that there is no threat to your data. In order to erase the information, you must enter your Apple ID password.

What can I do if my phone is switched off?

In this case, you can at least block and/or erase its contents; both actions will be executed the next time it connects. What you will not be able to do is locate it on the map.

What can I do if I haven’t activated “Find My iPhone” on my lost device?

You still have a few options which could help:

1. Change the Apple ID password. This will prevent someone else from accessing your data on iCloud and other services.

2. We also recommend changing the passwords of any accounts which appear in some form on your device, such as Facebook, Twitter, Gmail…

3. Report the loss or theft of your iPhone or iPad to the police, and inform your service provider of what happened. This way, they can disable the connection. If someone has stolen your phone, they will not be able to call, send text messages, or use data.

If you need additional (and Android) alternatives…

Here are four different applications which we recommend to help you locate your lost device: